Hi Steve & All,
Quote:
Originally Posted by kinetic
Me too Simon, that sorta doesn't answer my question Carl.... I mean, the Google Earth pic of my dome is probably that clear. I can make out details probably close to 10cm in that. 
And that's just a Landsat or something. |
KH-12 for example weighs in at almost 20,000kg and this is typical of spy satellites that are used for very high-resolution imaging. NASA (especially since the Saturn V was retired) does not have the capability to send that sort of mass into lunar orbit. It can be sent to Earth orbit but not to the moon (that requires a much more powerful launch stack -- which NASA doesn't have at the moment).This may be eventually corrected if the Ares V goes into production and it will be able to carry that sort of payload to the Moon.
You have to remember that images of that sort of resolution (say a few centimeters) are taken by spy satellites that are dedicated to that sort of stuff and hence have huge optics in a massive satellite and .. little else (One imagines). The LRO on the other hand is over 90%
less massive than KH-12 and was launched on an Atlas V
But why would that sort of resolution it be needed in imaging the Moon with the LRO given its mission objectives anyway?
The LRO has to pack a total of seven experiments including the imaging cameras (three) into just 1,800kg. Do they
need to resolve details as small as a centimetre for the purposes of the mission objectives? No. Is a two metre aperture camera required? No.
The LRO didn't go there to take pretty pictures and prove (yet again) that the Apollo astronauts went to the Moon. That isn't it's purpose -- that was just a happy by-product. It would be a huge waste of NASA resources to send something to lunar polar orbit just to take pictures at a resolution that has little scientific value in achieving the mission objectives.
Make sense?
Best,
Les D
